Recently, I came across these 10 Guidelines for Christian Voters from the Pentecostal Evangel in 1984:
Though it’s forty years removed, it seems like it could have been written today in 2024.
Guideline number nine stood out to me in this season. I wonder how often we relegate prayer as a last resort in crisis rather than our first step. It’s not that we pray because everything else has not worked, but we pray first so that we can see the landscape clearer.
Consider this– there are at least twelve instances in the Gospel of Mark, the book on which our sermon series Citizens of Heaven is based, where Jesus prays:
- Jesus prays for Himself alone (Mark 1:35)
- Jesus calls the temple a “House of Prayer for all nations.” (Mark 11:17)
- Jesus implores His followers to pray in faith (Mark 11:24)
- Jesus prays in Gethsemane (Mark 14:32)
When we pray, we change. When you pray for your enemies, God changes your heart on how you see them. When you pray for your anxiety, you take a step closer to realizing God controls the universe. When you pray for your family, including your parents, spouse, kids, grandkids, etc., you come to recognize God working in ways you couldn’t have imagined.
When we pray, we change.
One of the clearest invitations of Citizens of Heaven is growing in our prayer lives– Learning to listen to God amid prayer first, before we go to Fox News, CNN, or NBC. Letting prayer dictate our perspective. Surrendering our will to God’s will.
With this in mind, we have put together a Prayer Guide for you to reference throughout this series. You can access it at the button below (or on our Citizens of Heaven webpage) and use it in the following ways:
- Personally – We have provided a prayer to center you in this season.
- In your small group – We have provided a prayer exercise for your small group to do together during this series.
- Corporately – We have provided a prayer to guide us as a church community in this season.
As citizens of heaven in a chaotic time, we center ourselves in prayer. Our hope and trust are firmly based on the Creator of the Universe. I invite you in this season to grow deeper in prayer, both individually and with others.
A great way to start is by joining us for our church-wide Prayer Night this Sunday, September 22, from 6:30 – 7:30pm. Our theme for the night is being a unified Church in a polarized world. We will enjoy a time of worship, spend some time in collective prayer, and close the evening by taking communion together. We’d love to know if you are coming– you can RSVP here.
